Final Fantasy Gaiden
by ClockworkPilot
Summary: 19 years post-game, a new danger arises. Seifuu fans should be pleased with the main character. Chapter 5 is, at last, complete. Please Read and Review. In this chapter. the plot begins to thicken-yeah, right.
1. Chapter 1

Final Fantasy Gaiden  
  
The first ( and probably last) FF8 fanfic by one  
  
*Clockwork Pilot*  
  
Sing the Final Fantasy theme song with me! Feel it's power!  
  
" Bum bum bum da dum da bum da bum bum bum ba Bum..."  
  
Anyways...::sweatdrop:: This basically me focusing all my anger at the non- existance of Final Fantasy Gaiden. Please review me. As a writer I require feedback to improve.  
  
Thanks a lot...::Ahem:: "I do not have copyright or ownership over Final Fantasy 8 or any of its characters, except the plastic replicas I play with at home...."  
  
The Head Commanders office was, as usual, utterly gorgeous. Sunlight flooded the lobby and main office, bathing the area in a warm, yellow light. Fujin had "visited" the upper-levels of Balamb Garden enough times to notice the Headmaster took a great deal of pride in the appearance of his quarters. The solid oak floors were continually restored, polished and waxed with a fanatical intensity that gave them an almost etheral glow; the furniture, formerly stiff, aging wood, was slowly being replaced with sophisticated black plastic and leather.  
  
"Man, he seems obsessed with leather. I wonder if he's got a fetish...," She thought aloud as she eased into the soft cowhide bench. Outside, the songs of massive insects intermingled with the birds. She wished she could go outside and practice her Fire-Tempest technique out on some bite bug or flying fish.  
  
"Did you say something?," The Headmasters secretary looked up her vid-screen, eyeing her suspiciously. Fujin flustered for a moment, the toned muscles in her shoulders twitching nervously. The secretary smiled but said nothing.  
  
"Um, how much longer till my 'meeting' ?" A blush was creeping onto her face, and suddenly found her black boots incredibly interesting.  
  
"Well,...," She was casually pulling her long black hair into a tight ponytail," my husband is not accustomed to receiving visitors this early in the morning. He probably downing some coffee right now..." typing rapidly on the board, her eyes focused on the vid-screen she spoke more to herself than to Fujin, "...he insists on buying the import roasts from Tribadia, I don't understand it at all..."  
  
Feeling awkward, as usual, she swung her legs out, kicking air "Miss..er...Mrs..."  
  
"Yes, yes, what is it?" Pulling up an inventory file, she began to frown," damn, were running low on hot dogs again..."  
  
"But he's one of the five heroes! How can he need caffeine to get up in the morning?"  
  
The older woman grimaced slightly, as if struck, "Six!"  
  
"Huh?" Did I do something to piss her off?  
  
"Six heroes! Six!"  
  
Fujin began to count on her fingers, "Martial Arts Master Dinct...Gunslinger Kinneas..." her brain paused in mid-flight. Who were the others? Trepe, Tilmitt, Leonhart...names everyone was suppose to know and revere. The (Five, Six?) Heroes who had not only saved the world as we know it, but time and space as well. In wasn't her fault she had a bad memory.  
  
"And...um..the great..fabulous, um, almighty...Rinny Heart?"  
  
"Rinoa Heartilly! Heartilly! My maiden name, at least. In any case...if it weren't for troublemakers like you, I think my poor Squall would have clam nerves and the rest he needs without chemicals!"  
  
"Hey, it wasn't my fault this time. Master Dickweed should be here, not me."  
  
Mrs. Leonhart made her classic frown, "Tell it to the Commander, Fu- honey..."  
  
"Hmmm...were going to have to order some more ammo... and I can't believe how many Bo Staffs have been broken this semester"  
  
"Don't look at me!"  
  
"I wasn't looking at you, Fujin."  
  
Sweat drop, panic,"Yeah, well, that's great..." 


	2. Chapter 2

Final Fantasy Gaiden  
  
Chapter 2  
  
(I like my chapters short an' sweet)  
  
by da ClockworkPilot  
  
Thank you so much for reviewing!  
  
At this point I'm going make the identity of Fujin utterly, stupidly obvious for convenience.  
  
The Usual Stuff: I don't Final Fantasy 8, but I do own the action figures of the characters.  
  
  
  
Fujin-Raijin Armadodo Almasy was bored.  
  
Very, very bored-with a hormonal, teenage passion.  
  
Choco the chocobo's long leg ticked by on her wristwatch. Rinoa made inventory resupply lists and drank from her "World's Best Wife" mug.  
  
She swore she could feel dust collecting on her eyes.  
  
The sounds of her peers training outside was damn near infuriating. The insects, the birds, (the T-Rexasuars), the soft laughter and shoves and punches and kicks- her hands ached for her bamboo Bo staff, not those flimsy cheapass plastic things that made her practice with.  
  
She knew the other kids in Intermediate Melee laughed at her for not picking a sword or whip or something stupid like that. They placed their money in metal and plastic- she placed her value on the more primal, unprocessed elements. After all, wood was the parent of fire...and wood broke bones easier than most people imagined.  
  
Grinning, she imagined her fingers once again grasped around her solid wooden weapon. Swinging out in her fantasy world, she barely missed Yamato (who was surprising agile for such a tall, lanky, and perverted guy) his stupid vertical ponytail bouncing like a mop end on his head. He was trying to run now, but she was right behind him. She was going to make sure she shattered every bone in his hand so he'd never, ever touch her again...  
  
"Almasy"  
  
She tackled him, awkwardly, dropping her staff to wrap her arms around his legs. He pushed himself up, slipping out of her grasp, leaving her lying on her stomach like an idiot.  
  
"Almasy..."  
  
He was like a Hynedamn snake, fast and slippery. Laughing at her clumsiness, sliding out of her fingers like water. She'd kill him, she snap his spine and bash his deflated brains into his skull and hurt him and kill him and hurt him over and over...  
  
"Almasy!"  
  
The he'd see what she was really capable of...  
  
"ALMASY!!"  
  
"Huh? What?," She sat upright with a start, her trimmed nails digging into her soft leather seat. Hovering ominously above her was a scowling Headmaster Leonhart, greatest of the six heroes of the Second Sorceress War and not a morning person. Her heart was iron-clad hand beating against her chest , "Sir? Headmaster?" Oh shit oh shit oh shit.  
  
"Not ONLY do you disrupt our Garden's educational environment by continually picking fights with other students, but you fail to give me proper respect and attention to owe me as your superior!-"  
  
"Sir, I am so sorry, sir"  
  
"AND you interrupt me-"  
  
Oh, Fuck.  
  
"Sir, please forgive me, sir"  
  
If only I could keep my goddamn mouth shut...  
  
"As I was saying...I am beginning to doubt your potential to become a member of SeeD, in spite of your abilities. Strength and skill are nothing without self-discipline."  
  
"Sir, permission to speak, sir."  
  
His overbearing presence was lifted as he turned away from her, rubbing his forefinger and thumb into barely visible scar tissue across his temple and nose bridge.  
  
He was calmer now, more exasperated than angry, "Permission granted..."  
  
"Sir, this incident is not, I repeat, not my fault. You see, Master Dickweed was trying to..."  
  
Leonhart rolled his eyes and glanced at his wife, "Master Dickweed?"  
  
Rinoa dragged one of the smaller files into the trash can and double-tapped a document with her finger, "Osamu Yamato. He just transferred here from Galbadia. From what I heard, she nearly gave the poor boy a concussion."  
  
Fujin quickly stood up, stretching her thin, well-toned arms over her head," That's simply not true. His skulls way too thick for that!"  
  
Without the slightest warning, without the vaguest hint on the horizon, Headmaster Leonhart, The Lion of Balamb, Savior of the World, burst out laughing. This startled Rinoa more than it could have ever shaken any of the Gardens students. Squall was infamous for his somber and emotionless disposition, earning him the title of "Ice-Heart" among a number of students. Rinoa, despite her continually warm and loving attitude towards her husband, had let to completely melt his icy disposition. Squall smiled, and kissed her, and whispered sweet nothings in her ear in dark, but he did not laugh. He never laughed.  
  
The younger girl was speechless. The Head Commander was laughing, no simple, gee-that's-funny giggles but try-to-keep-your-balance laughs. Five blinks later, he was sitting down beside Fujin, wiping moisture from his eyes with his black-clad hand.  
  
"Dear Hyne. You are so much like your father." He said in a voice barely above a whisper, "Hyne, do you ever bring back memories." He was leaning towards her now, his sleep depraved eyes staring into her pale blue ones. A sudden, forced intimacy between them occurred. She was afraid he was going to kiss her.  
  
"Look, listen up," he whispered again, louder, more serious, "I'm cranky, I'm tired, and quite frankly, I'm feeling a bit out of it. Stop pulling this shit. I want you to be a SeeD for Balamb, and I'd hate to lose you just because you have a bad temper."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes. Now go to class and get out of my office."  
  
"Sir, yes, sir!"  
  
It was, beyond doubt, the shortest, sweetest ( and surprisingly, the most effective) lecture she had ever been given in her life. She got a slip excusing her tardiness from Rinoa and nearly found herself skipping to Guardian Force Basics. 


	3. Chapter 3

Final Fantasy Gaiden  
  
Chapter 3...Gasp!  
  
by one Clockwork Pilot  
  
"I do not have copyright or ownership over Final Fantasy 8 or any of its characters, except the plastic replicas I play with at home...."  
  
It is done! *yippie* Please continue to tell me what you think and tell me how to improve. I live for feedback. Later, just for shits and giggles, I'll be giving the stats and miscellous gaming info on the main characters.  
  
Thanks for encouraging me this far.  
  
"Hyne created man in the image of his brother," Osamu scratched the side of his nose as he read aloud, stretching his legs under the library desk, "he gave man seed within himself; so that me might multiply of his own power-and woman, so that they might be the soil for mans seed to grow and prosper"  
  
"But among the women there were those who were not content with their frame, three that went before him, called Nina, Freya, and Aeris"  
  
"They stood before Hyne, and spoke he unto them, saying, 'Why do you stand assembled before me, when I am so near to resting?' "  
  
He was alone in the library, with only the committee members killing time by playing cards. Since it was lunch everyone else was outside, in the cafeteria, or in the training center. For the most part, he enjoyed being able to hear himself think. Finding the tone of his voice soothing, glanced at the librarians to make sure he wasn't annoying them. Only focusing on their card game, they were thankfully oblivious. He didn't want people to start saying he talked to himself.  
  
"Then they'd start thinking I'm some sort of freak...anyway...blah, blah, they stand assembled...Aeris, the eldest among them, stepped forward, saying, 'Great Hyne, Lord and Father, we were crafted to bear the seed of life, but for no other purpose' "  
  
" 'Out limbs are weak, out legs are frail, and we have no endurance to work in the fields or hunt the monsters that plague you so' "  
  
" 'It would be better to have the minds of bicthes and vixens, yea, to have the intelligence of beasts than to have a mind as keen as mans with such a useless body' "  
  
"With this Hyne was much displeased, for what her word were true, 'Woman, I cannot unmake you and recreate your form. As a clay pot has dried, such is you body.' "  
  
" 'I will make a covenant with you, woman, between you and I. If you bear the sons of man, I will give you each ( that is, the three, being Aeris, Nina, and Freya) of you a part of my power. It will be a great source of help to you, and when you go old, and are near death, you will pass it on to your daughters, and so that they were make use of it, and it shall be passed from generation to generation. You shall only pass your power unto woman, and not unto beast or man, or any other manner of being, lest they be cursed'"  
  
Osamu thumbed through the footnotes of the King Edward's Translated Ancient Scriptures ( copyright 678 A.S.W*), slowly losing interest. He still had plenty of time before class started up again, at least half an hour. Picking up his checked out book (Bushido for Bakas) he headed towards the exit.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"What do you mean, 'Out of food'!?"  
  
The lunch lady looked at him curiously, as if an insect was crawling out of the side of his face, "Look, kid, you know how it is. First come, first serve. Don't expect things to just change for you."  
  
" I don't, I mean, we never ran out of food at my old garden..."  
  
"Then why don't you just scee-daddle back there so I don't have to hear your belly aching, huh, kid?"  
  
"I am not a kid, I'm 16 years old. Stop treating me like a child!"  
  
A tall (even taller than Osamu), fresh faced boy walked up to the cashier, "Is this boy annoying you, ma'am?," he ran a small black comb through his wet brown hair and waited for her judgment.  
  
"Uh...no, it's all right," she said in a rushed voice, "Everything's just fine. He's a transfer student, he just needs to get adjusted to things..."  
  
The taller boy smirked at Osamu as if he was just the cutest, stupidest thing," I'm sorry for making assumptions. I thought you were trouble because you fought Fu-Ra-Ah, but I guess that's not the case," He put his thick, meaty hand on Osamu's shoulder, and leaned in, his bangs brushing against new friend's forehead," Just a word of advice, you really shouldn't touch girls like that until you've gotten to know them a little better...it makes them uncomfortable. Or in Fu-Ra's case, violent. Which is pretty much her reaction to everything."  
  
"Um...thanks, I think." Osamu mumbled, feeling more and more entangled in an increasingly awkard situation.  
  
"Hey, no problem!" With a clap on his shoulder, the menace was gone, losing himself in some crowded table.  
  
Osamu looked around him, a small child lost in a crowd for the first time. So many people, all around him, talking, commuicating.They knew each others names and what pissed them off and what turned them on. They had understanding and knowledge of one another. He realised, painfully, that he had nothing here.  
  
He felt disconnected from all of them, like an invisable, immaterial ghost. For a moment, listening to them all talking and laughing, walking past him, looking through and around him, he thought he would disappear. The 3rd hour singal blasted overhead and people began to file themselves out. He knew with a newfound pessimism he would not make any new friends that day.  
  
*A.S.W-After Sorceress War. P.S.W-Pre Sorceress War 


	4. Chapter 4

Final Fantasy Gaiden  
  
Part Four, Chapter Four... Scene Four, Act One  
  
By the Crackhead Pilot  
  
  
  
"I do not have copyright or ownership over Final Fantasy 8 or any of its characters, except the plastic replicas I play with at home...."  
  
::yawns::  
  
Notes at 2:40 A.M:  
  
Good morning fellow F.F.F's! (Final Fantasy Freak's)  
  
It's 20 minutes short of 3:00 in the morning where I am, but I got an idea where doing my math homework and I wanna work on it, because I won't have time again for a while. That's why today I'm piloting the Crackhead instead of the Clockwork.  
  
Again, thank you for the reviews and flames. I welcome both.  
  
Anyway, today I might get into some naughty things if I get brave enough to write down the naughty words.  
  
Notes at 2:38 P.M: Well's thats that. I decided I don't quite have the nerve to be sexual yet. Love it, hate it? Drop me a line. I'm hanging round all the time...  
  
(I'm not a poet and I don't yet know it...) :~)  
  
  
  
"I know what love is and what it means, it's a cute little girl with tight- ass jeans"  
  
-Whitesnake, Take Me With You  
  
Towards lights out, Osamu sulked into his room, discarded his clothes in a hurried, disorganized manner, and sunk under the stiff covers of his bed. He stared at the white, unfamiliar ceiling and began to wonder if he had made a drastic mistake in transferring from Galbadia.  
  
Everyone, his friends, his instructors, told him that Balamb what the greatest of the three gardens; that all but 2 of the 6 heroes had received their training there. Hell, the almighty Squall Leonhart himself was the Headmaster and Commander of it! They all but said that attending Balamb was the best choice anyone could ever make as a SeeD candidate.  
  
He had believed them. Trusted their judgment. Now, he didn't know if they were lying or just plain stupid. The instructors were impatient and short tempters, rooms were cluttered, all of the computers seemed to be shut down for technical repair, and (worst of all) food was on short supply. His stomach rumbled aloud at the thought. He wondered if it was some test to weed out the weaklings and crybaby's, so only the most elite, strong, and smallest-stomached SeeD's were sent out on missions.  
  
A quick rapping was heard at the door. A female disciplinary committee member peeped her head in, to warn him that his lights would need to be out in five minutes.  
  
"At least something things are the same at Garden's," He sighed after the girl had left, "Lights always out by 22:00. I guess some constants are better than none," he laughed cynically as he reached up and switched off his bed lamp.  
  
Some strange comfort could be found in the darkness for Yamato. It seemed almost to act as thick blanket, a shield that protected him from his problems until tomorrow's light revealed them anew. Content for the present, he allowed his mind to wander on less overbearing things. Like that silver-haired girl, ignoring the minor detail that she had broken a lightweight but strong plastic stick over his head. What had that dork called her? Fu-Ra? She was weird looking, but in a good way. Sort of...exotic, rare. Typically he could get away with coping a feel, just an "accidental" brush-up while fighting or passing some sweet thing in the hallway. This Fu-Ra was pretty sharp, that was for sure. Her chasing after him made him regret he'd done it, not because she attacked him, but she was the one who got in trouble. He couldn't risk his own merit to cure his conscience, however, and he left it at that.  
  
Silver-hair on ivory skin.  
  
Sky-blue eyes. A smooth, somewhat boyish face.  
  
Well-toned, semi-developed muscles.  
  
Thick shoulders, thin eyebrows...he pieced her together, bit by bit, from fragments of memories still fresh in his mind.  
  
Silk skin, lean tummy...  
  
Fu-Ra was the smallest girl in Melee class, probably no more than 5' 2-but she was well proportioned, not squat or misshapen, almost like a porcelain doll with muscles.  
  
He wanted her, he knew that much. He wanted to remeber every little thing about her, like artwork, like a movie.  
  
Those ridulously bulky black boots. That baggy blue shirt with the Chocobo logo on the pocket, those tight, tight black denim shorts...  
  
He remebered seeing a glance at her from the back view, such a cute little ass.  
  
After few moments wrelsting with the elastic on his boxer shorts, he sunk his teeth into his lower lip he slowly entered Nirvana... 


	5. Chapter 5

Final Fantasy Gaiden  
  
Chapter 5  
  
by one Clockwork Pilot  
  
Notes at 7:23 P.M: Sorry for not working on this, its just I was at a convention Boise (Anime Oasis 2002) and spend about 40 dollars on anime pins ::sigh:: They didn't have ANY good FF8 posters, and no chibi Seifer or Fujin pins. Wah. Anyway, other than that, the con was totally sweet. Hell, me and my friend Turles got "Best-in-Show" at the cosdisplay contest. I was Meryl Strife, and Turles was Vash the Stampede. Check some of this stuff out, he's got some interesting crossovers.  
  
The usual begging: Please review me! Feedback is my reason for living.  
  
represents telepathy. Yeah, I know I'm taking this from Animorphs, but it was a good idea, so bleh.  
  
And so it begins:  
  
It has been so long...  
  
Undetected and silent above the planet, three dark silhouettes stood posed, motionless, observing the world below.  
  
So many aeons...  
  
Two of them adjusted position and nodded to confirm this. The infinite silence was deafening. A new voice rang out inside their minds, breaking the awkwardness, a soft, delicate woman:  
  
My Lord, do you sense him?  
  
Lights blinked on and off on earth, tiny beating hearts. A keen, keen eye watched as a yellow car speed down a lonely road in Galbadia.  
  
I would know his energy anywhere. The planet reeks of it  
  
The third and final voice rang out, a coarse, irritated male:  
  
Sire, I can sense him as well, but he is-  
  
Fragmented!? To think that... the woman cut him off abruptly.  
  
How pathetic! Destroyed by his own creations...  
  
Truly unworthy to possess such powers, Lord  
  
Yes, he did not have the intelligence to use them wisely, you are by far the absolute best canidat-  
  
Quiet! Oni, Kardis what are these new creatures?  
  
I do not know what you speak of...  
  
Look you incompenant idiots!  
  
My Lord, they are, they are-  
  
Rinoa woke with a start, her heart pounding in her chest like an iron drum. A irrational, terrifying panic consumed her as she re-enacted her dream over and over in her head.  
  
Her nails had been digging into her hand, and her fingers were smeared with tiny rivelets of blood, seeping into her pillow. Closing her eyes to clam down, she heard Squall snoring softly beside her. Reaching out timidly, she touched his feather-soft hair.  
  
"Squall, wake up..." Running her hand down his face, she gingerly ran her index finger along his faded scar, recollecting the past. He had been so cold, back then. So indifferent, arrogant...  
  
"Umf..." He rolled over, shoving his arms between his legs, his knees drawing up to his chest. Rinoa grabbed his shoulder, shaking him slightly.  
  
"Squall-honey, wake up. I had a bad dream" Things had changed so much, and so many of their friends had moved to Esthar to get away from being the limelight. Even Seifer had changed...  
  
"Iz gone now, go back to sleep" Curling into an even tighter ball, he began to snore again, louder than before.  
  
"Squall!" He bolted awake as Rinoa's fist pummeled the back of his head relentlessly. He sat upright, staring a Rinoa with still-sleepy eyes.  
  
"Yes?" He asked with a groggy, uncontrolled voice.  
  
"I had a nightmare. I don't think I want to go back asleep tonight..."  
  
He began to reach past her, for the alarm clock "What time is it?"  
  
She grabbed his wrist, calmly, like a teacher controlling a child. As their eyes met, anger flashed in Squalls dark eyes. Ignoring his glare, she smiled, never speaking, and slowly placed his hand on her face. His menacing stare softened at the contact, and he cupped her chin in his hand, drawing her to him.  
  
"You know, Rinoa, I'm getting too old for this" He whispered into her ear after they kissed, his hand caressing the small of her back, the other on her leg. She giggled and sighed, pressing up against him.  
  
"Don't be silly, your only 36! Your not elderly, just stressed. Hyne knows that Irvine certainly can still live things up a bit..." She nibbled on his ear, gently tugging on his earlobe. He shuddered at the touch, sliding his hand upward, grabbing the back of her thigh.  
  
"Rinoa..."  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
"Holy fucking Hyne..." Fujin trembled violently as she supressed a scream rising up in her throat. Heavy drops of sweats formed on her temple, slowly sliding down her face and soaking her nightgown with a salty, damp odor.  
  
She could not remeber ever being this terrifed in her life. Reaching out clusmilly, she found her Choco beanie hidden under her tangled mess of blankets and sheets. She squeezed the toy for comfront as she tried to regain her composure. The viens in her head were throbbing painfully and the muscles in her legs were tightening to point of cramping. Her teeth ground together in frustation.  
  
"Why the hell am I so scaried? The dream didn't wasn't practially frightening to it or anything..."  
  
She sat in silence for a while, letting her eyes adjust to the dark and feeling her heart scrape agaist her chest. The seam on Choco's neck began to tear under Fujin's death grip, its plastic guts spilling into her lap. Something about the first voice in the dream was very familar and impossiable to pinpoint. It was an precise and unfeeling blade. It pentriated into something precois and well-hidden, inside and unknown to herself.  
  
The night wore on, and unable to sleep, she crept out of bed. Her family lived in a small two-bedroom house built as as result of the expansion of Balamb, close to the docks where her father worked. She padded into the living room and saw Uncle Raijin sleeping on the folded-out couch. Once, they had shared the bed in her room, until her parents deemed she was too old to be sleeping with him and exiled him to the sofa. Raijin had no compliants, but she was heartbroken over the issue for some time.  
  
She sat in the recliner across from him, wacthing his massive frame twist and turn under a threadbare blanket. The sofa creaked and groaned occassilly under his weight as he streched out his full 6 feet 5 inches again and again in an attemp to become comfrontable. It was somewhere near 4:00 in the morning. Her classes began in three hours, and she wasn't tired in the least. She went through Raijin's cards for a while, spreading them out on the glass coffe table. Bored after an hour of looking at Iron Men and T-Rexsuars, she got ready for school. She took a quick shower (she hated water) and tied her still-wet hair into a short, loose ponytail. She quickly changed into a loose fitting white shirt and baggy blue shorts. Still barefoot, she wandered into the kicthen. Her clothes were damp and clung to her skin, and she left a trail of water on the lineum floor. Outside a dog was barking, marching back and forth across the longest dock on the harbor. The clouds began to roll away as the first gray shades of dawn crept onto the horizon. Somewhere bewteen night and day, the stars always seem to shine brighter in Fujin's eyes. The air was cool and crisp, the moisture still thick and heavy inside it. Fujin sighed as she wacthed the shades of night shift into more sublte, neutral tones. It was so corny, but sometimes the world seemed too beautiful for it's own good. She hummed to herself for a while as she dripped dry. She thought of poem she'd read in the libary once, in an old collection,"Awaking is-subtle and quiet as the-creation of life."  
  
The alarm clock blared from her parents room, making it crude annocement to the world-time to wake up, time to work, time to suffer for your daily bread. 


End file.
